Machine for buffing tires



Sept. 16, 1952 P. E. HAWKINSON 2,610,446

MACHINE FOR BUF'FING TIRES Original Filed March 19, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet l Spt. 16, 1952 P. E. HAwklNsoN 2,610,446

MACHINE FOR BUFFING TIRES Original Filed March 19, 1948. 4 $heets$heet 2 Sept. 16, 1952 P. E. HAWKINSON MACHINE FOR BUFF'ING TIRES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed March 19, 1948 .5 kid 14%) I/ Sept. 16, 1952 P. E. HAWKINSON 2,610,445

MACHINE FOR BUFFING TIRES Original Filed March 19, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Ill-I Mounted fast on the slide 26 is a circular base plate 36 which rotatively supports a pedestal 31 projecting upwardly therefrom and concentric therewith, A platform 38 is secured to the upper end of the pedestal 31 by headed bolts or the like 39. A turning lever 46for the pedestal 31 is pivotally secured to brackets 4|, as indicated at 42, said brackets being secured to the platform 35 directly over the pedestal 37. An index rod 43 is loosely connected at its upper end by bolt and slot connections 44 to the intermediate portion of the turning handle and projects downwardly through an opening in the platform 38 adjacent the pedestal 31. The lower end of the index rod 43 is adapted to be received into an indexing aperture in the circular base plate 36, said aperture being shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 and indicated by the numeral 45. Intermediate its ends, the index rod 43 is provided with a cam-acting'lug 46, which is adapted to engage one end of a brake lever 41, which is pivoted as at 48 to a bracket49 rigidly secured to the side of the pedestal 51. At

means of machine screws or the like 69. This arrangement maintains the V-pulley 64 at a predetermined spaced relation to the end of the housing 56 irrespective of the position of the axially movable bearing sleeve 55 with respect thereto. The housing 56 and all elements carried thereby are supported from the platform 38 by means of a rigid bracket 10, the lower portion of which is secured by welding or the like to the platform 38 and the upper end portion of which is offset and secured by any suitable means to the housing 56. The buffing wheels 5| and 52 are driven by V-belts running over the V-pulley 64 and another V-pulley 12 fast on the shaft of a motor 13. The motor 73 is mounted on the platform 38 directly behind the bracket I3 and in addition its extreme lower end, the brake lever 41 is provided with a friction lug 53'that is engageable with the outer peripheral surface of the stationary circular base 35. The turning lever is shown in Figs. 2 and 4 asbeing disposedin its lower position with .the lower endof the index rod 43 seated in the aperture 45 of thebase plate 36. Limited upward movement of the lever 46 will disengage the index rod 43from the aperture 45 and permit turning of the pedestal 31 and parts carried thereby relative tov the base plate 36. Continued upward movement of the lever 46 will cause the cam-acting lug 46 to engage the upper end of the brake lever 41' and cause the. friction lug to engage the outer peripheral surface of the base plate 36 so that the pedestal may be eifectively locked in any desired position for a purpose which will hereinafter become apparent.

For the bufilng of the crown of the tire l9, preparatory to application of new tread rubber thereto, I provide a pairof bufing or abrading wheels 5| and 52 mounted fast in axially-spaced relation to one end of a rotary shaft 53. The buffing wheels 5| and 52 are preferably of the type illustrated in my, United StatesPatent No. 2,240,559.

The shaft 53 is journalled by means of anti-fric-' tion bearings 54 in abearing sleeve 55, which is slidably mounted in ahousing 56 (see particularly Figs. 4 and 5). The bufiing wheels 5| and 52 are covered with suitable abrasive material 51, which may be coarse in nature, as indicated on the wheel 5| in Fig. 4, or relatively fine, as indicated on the wheel 52 in Fig. 4. Referring particularly to Fig. 5, it will be seen that the buffing wheels 5| and 52 are held against endwise movement on the shaft 53 inone direction by a stop collar 58, secured thereto by means of a set screw or the like 59. A spacing collar 65 is interposed between the buffing wheels 5 I and 52 to maintain the same in spaced relation, and a washer-equipped nut 6| screw-threaded on the extreme. outer threaded end 62 of the shaft 53' securely clamps the buffing wheels 5| and 52 and spacing collar therebetween andthe. collar. 58. .Opposite the buifing wheels 5.! and 52. the rotaryshaft 53 is extended beyond the bearing sleeve 55, as indicated at 63, and has mounted thereon for rotation therewith, but for axial sliding movements with respect thereto, a V-pulley 64., The V-pulley 64 is provided with a flangev 65 which provides a circumferential channel 66. A bracket 61 has an inturned end 68 projected into the channel 65 and its opposite end rigidly secured to the housing 56 by by the motor'2l to. driving the'bufilng wheels 5| and 54, operates an exhaust fan not shown but contained within a fan housing 14. The fan draws material buffed from the tire through a. hood l5 partially enclosing the buffing wheels 5| and 52 and blows the same through an exhaust stack l6to a suitable place of disposal, not shown.

Itwill be .seen, by reference to Figs. 1 and 2, that-the tire I 9-lies in a vertical plane extending through the centers ofpivotal movement of the turntable 2 and the pedestal 3 1,. The positioning of the bearing sleeve 55in the housing 56, that of the bufiing wheels 5| and 52 on the shaft 53, and .thespacing between the buffing wheels, is su'chthat one or the other of the wheels 5| or 52 maybe selectively moved into or out of the vertical plane of the centers of pivotal movement ofthe turntable 2 andthe pedestal 3. Means for imparting axial movements to the bearing sleeve 55 and partscarried thereby includes. a gear rack 11 on the bearing sleeve 55,, a toothed gear segment 18 having meshing engagement with the gear rack 77, and a shifter handle "I9 on the ear rack 11 on the bearing sleeve 55, a toothed as at 83 to a bracket 8| rigidly secured to'the top of the housing'56 (see particularly Figs. 14 inclusive). In Figs. 1 and 2, the bearing sleeve'55 is positioned to bring the bufiing wheel 52 into .the verticalplane of the centers of. pivotal movement of the turntable Zand the pedestal 31. Means for. imparting-v axial movements to the bearing and 5, thebearing sleeve 55 is moved to the other extreme position, whereby to bring the buffing wheel 5| into the vertical plane of the centers of pivotal movement of the turntable 2 and pedestal 31. A switch for controlling the motor 13 is mounted-on the bracket 10 and is indicated by the numeral 82.

.Whenit is desired to apply tread rubber of a predetermined width to the tire I9, it is often desirable toremove some of the material from the side edges of the crown thereof. The relative positions of the tires and bufling wheels for this. operation are clearly shown in .my prior Patent No. 2,392,667 (Fig. and it is assumed that detailed description thereof is unnecessary. However, while the buifing wheel engages the tire l9, said tire is rotated at a predetermined speed and gearing associated therewith. This speed is, of course, slower than the peripheralspeed .ofthe bufiing wheels. Builing the crown surface ofthe tire I3 is accomplished in exactly the same manner as set forth in my prior Patents No. 2,254,526 and 2,392,667. The crown surface ofthe tire ispreferably buffed to providea relatively rough surfacefor an efficient adhesion of the new tread rubber thereto. For this purpose, the bufling wheel 5| is moved to its operative position wherein it lies in the verthe side edges of the crown of the tire l9. When buffing the crown surface of the tire I9, abrading surfaces 51 of the buffing wheels are maintained in position to have face to face engagement with the tire by alignment and seating of the index rod 43 in the aperture 45, under extreme downward movement of the edges of the crown portion of the tire are being buffed, the pedestal 31 and buffing mechanism carried thereby are frictionally locked against rotation by engagement of the friction lug 50 with the peripheral surface of the base plate 36 under extreme upward movement of the lever 40.

It will be seen, particularly by reference to Figs. 4 and 5, that the bracket 61 maintains alignment between the V-pulleys 64 and 12 regardless of axial movements of the bearing sleeve 55 and shaft 53.

This machine has been thoroughly tested and demonstrated in actual practice and has been found to be completely adequate for the accomplishment of .the objectives set forth; and, while I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be obvious that the same is capable of various modifications without departure from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in the claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a device of the class described a stationary base member, a horizontally disposed support member rotatably supported on a stub shaft projecting vertically from said base member, a

. standard projecting vertically upwardly from said support member, an axle projecting horizontally from said standard for supporting a rim equipped casing mounting wheel, a horizontal slide member slidably supported on said base member, a

lever 40. When the side- 6 pedestal projecting vertically from said slid member, a housing mounted on the upper end of said pedestal, a horizontal cylindrical bore in said housing, a sleeve disposed in said bore for axial movement therein, a rotary shaft journalled in said sleeve and having its opposite ends projecting axially therefrom, a pulley slidably secured to one end of said shaft for rotation therewith, a pair of buffing wheels secured to the opposite end of said shaft in axially spaced relation for movements to and from a vertical plane extending through the axis of said stub shaft and at right angles to said rotary shaft, a gear rack on the upper wall portion of said sleeve, a gear segment pivotally secured to said housing above said rack and meshing therewith, and a handle on said gear segment for imparting oscillatory movement thereto with corresponding reciprocatory movement to said sleeve for bringing said buffing wheels alternately into operative position in said vertical plane.

2. The structure according to claim 1 wherein said pulley is provided with an annular groove,

a bracket member having one end thereof secured to said housing and said bracket member including an angular opposite end portion freely disposed in said groove.

PAUL E. HAWKINSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,632,600 Hoagland June 14, 1927 1,696,660 Wegner Dec. 25, 1928 2,243,461 Haskins May 27, 1941 2,248,143 Weber July 8, 1941 2,283,005 Godfrey May 12, 1942 2,392,667 Harkinson Jan. 8, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 828,760 France Feb. 28, 1938 

